


Bribery

by coraxes



Category: Hades (video game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Relationship, canonical death mechanics, early access spoilers, hurt/not really comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-25 22:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17129669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coraxes/pseuds/coraxes
Summary: “I want ten minutes.  I’m in no shape to fight you and I’m fucking tired of choking on blood.  Battle or not, you’ll kill me—just let me rest first.”In honor of my 100th escape attempt, which ended with Meg once again kicking my ass.





	Bribery

**Author's Note:**

> me: hey you know how i like weird exes and hot people getting beat up  
> my roommate: tell me about your zagaera fic idea
> 
> anyway i think this is the second fic for this game? so hope y'all enjoy.

The first time Zagreus had appeared in Megaera’s hall that morning, he’d been whole and healthy, godly light glowing red and gold through his skin and Aegis gleaming on his arm.  She’d sent him back to Hades, of course, put a hole through the center of his chest and watched his body melt into the stone, but he hadn’t made it easy.  He was, Megaera admitted to herself, getting better.

The second time, though, he stumbled through the door and she could already tell he wouldn’t be a challenge.  Streaked with ghostly ichor and bright red blood, even the leaves in his hair and the flames around his feet seemed weaker than usual.  He carried the heart-seeking bow and quiver in one hand like an afterthought.  “Hi, Meg,” Zagreus said.  He dropped his weapon, leaned against the wall, and slid down to sit on the floor.  “I’m not here to fight.”

“You’re joking.”  She covered the distance between them in a wingbeat.  Unruffled, Zagreus looked up at her.  “Tell me you aren’t planning to seduce your way past me.”

He shot her a grin that was slightly less charming than usual, as he was missing a tooth.  Not for the first time Megaera questioned her own taste in men.  “That’s not why I’m here, but if you’re offering—”

She leaned down, grabbed a handful of hair, and yanked back.  (Admittedly this wasn’t too far from where their encounters usually began, but Megaera ignored that.)  “Zagreus.  Explain.”

His grin disappeared; mismatched eyes narrowed.  “I want ten minutes.  I’m in no shape to fight you and I’m fucking tired of choking on blood.  Battle or not, you’ll kill me—just let me rest first.”

Ridiculous.  Megaera was a _guard;_ she had no business playing hostess when she was supposed to be sending him hurtling back towards his father’s house, and he had no right to ask it of her. 

Then again, Zagreus looked as if breathing too hard might kill him.  (Maybe literally.  His side seemed to be nothing but bruises; Megaera wouldn’t be surprised if there were a few broken ribs.)  If he tried anything, dispatching him would take only a flick of her wrist.  And it had been a long time since she’d had any company besides wretches.

“And for your trouble…” He fished in his pocket and pulled out a small bottle of ambrosia.

Megaera’s eyes narrowed.  “Fine,” she said.  She grabbed the bottle and sat down beside him.  Zagreus didn’t say anything as she pried the cork loose and took a swig.  When she glanced over his eyes were closed.  Megaera stared, but—yes, still breathing.  “How many times has it been?”

“It’s my sixth today.  And if Hypnos’s records are to be believed, one hundred since I’ve started.”

Megaera tipped the ambrosia bottle in his direction.  “Cheers,” she said, and Zagreus snorted.  “Why are you doing this to yourself, Zag?” 

It wasn’t as if she _wanted_ to kill him over and over.  She was used to killing, sure, and worse besides—but it was different with someone whose body she knew, someone who hadn’t decayed into a caricature of himself like the wretches. 

At that he opened his mismatched eyes.  “You know why.”  His _mother._ She hadn’t listened much to his explanation at first, all those weeks ago.  When he’d led with “ _I’m getting out of the Underworld,_ ” Megaera had trouble holding on to what came next.  But she pieced together the rest with gossip from the shades in Hades’s hall and some of Nyx’s cryptic advice. 

Despite everything Megaera still had trouble looking at Zagreus’s eyes for too long.  They were too genuine, too young.  She traced a circle around the rim of the ambrosia.  “Because you’re a masochist.”

“ _Well,_ ” Zagreus said.  Megaera raised an eyebrow—none of that, not anymore, she’d told him when he started this foolishness—and he seemed to deflate.  “Though…perhaps less so, after all this.  But haven’t you ever wanted out?  You’ve been here almost as long as Father.  Don’t tell me you’ve never wanted to see the rest of the world.”

Shrugging, Megaera took another drink.  Ambrosia didn’t burn like liquor or dull the senses; it ran through veins like ice, making her aware of everything from her own heartbeat to the low grind of stone as Tartarus’s chambers shifted.  Like she was bigger than herself, bigger than this hall.  “What’s the point?  There’s no way out.  I have my place here; that’s enough.”

Zagreus leaned over enough that his shoulder bumped hers.  Megaera stayed ramrod straight.  “You didn’t answer my question.”

She scowled at the stone floor between them.  “Yes.  Once.  And I failed, just like you’ll fail.”  Megaera let herself relax enough to rest her cheek against his hair. The flames that usually sprouted there seemed to have vanished, leaving only trails of smoke.  “Olympus doesn’t want us, Zag.  It never has.”

“Then why are the gods helping me?”

Idiot.  She wanted to grab him by the ears and shake him, but settled for squeezing his (relatively uninjured) leg instead.  Zagreus made a pleased noise.  One of his hands made its way behind her back and oh gods if he was really trying to seduce his way past her, Megaera was going to tear him to pieces.  “Why do you think we’re trapped here in the first place?  Do you think your father made the Underworld what it is?”  He’d find out soon enough, she supposed.  If by some miracle he made it past her, past Asphodel, he’d find himself in Elysium.  In the end Megaera knew she was only a roadblock.  The real trouble lay in paradise, where the enemies weren’t the sort anyone could fight.

“Doesn’t matter.  My mother was able to leave; I’ll find a way, too.”  Zagreus straightened abruptly and pressed his lips to her cheek.  Megaera reached for her whip; she recognized his good-byes.  “Thanks for the break.”

Something cold and sharp pressed suddenly into her back, and his lopsided grin returned.  “And…sorry about this.”

“What—” she snarled, but of course it was too late.  Pain bloomed cold like ambrosia between two of her ribs. 

She heard him say, “See you in hell, Meg.”Then there was copper in her mouth, red in her eyes, sucking her down and—

Megaera pulled herself to the surface of the pool, lungs screaming, the stink of blood so thick even she had to fight not to heave.  She choked and spat out blood until she could breathe again.  Blood and darkness—she’d forgotten where that curse came from.  Why it had so much power here.  Centuries since she had died, and of course it had to be because of _him._

“Bastard,” she muttered, and threw her arms over the edge of the pool.  For all the good killing her would do him.  The shape Zagreus was in, he wouldn’t make it five feet into Asphodel. 

They would see each other again soon enough.  And next time, it wouldn’t go quite so easily for him.

For now, though…Meg hauled herself onto the House of Hades’s stone floors and pushed her way past the shades. 

After all, she hadn’t gotten to finish her drink. 

**Author's Note:**

> comments/kudos would be <3!!
> 
> the day after i posted this i beat meg so now i gotta write about zagreus smooching a hydra i guess  
> edit: after 112 runs i finally managed to beat the hydra!! and i didn't have to write any zag/hydra to do it which i'm sure disappoints someone, somewhere


End file.
